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Neither has left an indelible imprint, gained an unshakable foothold, writ large his signature.

Auditions remain ongoing.

Right now, in this high-stakes game of two-handed stud poker, Karri Ramo seems to be holding most of the cards. But that doesn’t guarantee he’ll be the one cashing in at the end of the evening when everyone cashes out.

Or even, for that matter, that either of them will still be at the table when the dealer breaks the seal on a new deck.

“I think they’re both showing a pretty neat progression,” gauged Calgary Flames’ boss Bob Hartley on Wednesday, “but did someone take the pole and run with it? I haven’t seen that yet.

“Was I hoping to see it? For sure. Early on that’s why we gave them stretches whether they won or they lost, they got seven, eight, nine games in a row. You play yo-yo, one here, one there, you just buy time but at the end of the 82 games you don’t have an answer.

“We need to know. Because obviously at the end of the year we’ll have to make some decisions. If we have an established No. 1 or a potential No. 1, like a Miikka Kiprusoff for example, it changes the entire dynamics.”

If only.

Fifty-one games in and the blue-paint muddle seems only slightly less fuzzy than when the Flames convened for training camp in September, re-tooling and committed to a “rebuild” (ewww, hideous word), with Ramo, late of the KHL, and Reto Berra, late of the Swiss Elite league, left the task of vying to replace a legend.

So far, neither would be presumptuous enough to lift an index finger aloft in celebration, go all Richard Sherman in interviews, feel safe or comfortable or bulletproof.

The goaltending in the early going of the post-Miikka era has fluctuated from good to serviceable to spotty. And being fair, that should’ve been expected: After watching Olivier perform Richard III for a decade at the Old Vic it was always going to be tough to go back to local dinner theatre.

Head-to-head, Ramo’s numbers are better at the moment — a 9-10-4 record as opposed to Berra’s 5-14-2; a .906 save percentage against a .894; a 2.73 GAA in comparison to a 3.13. He’s looked more solid more often.

“I’m not thinking about that,” protests Ramo, a 3-2 winner in his last outing, Tuesday versus Phoenix. “I feel pretty much the same as I did at the start of the year. It’s a whole new team for me, all new players, so now I feel I know them better on the ice, what they do. So that part makes it easier to play, for sure.

“Being a goalie, though, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve played 15 years in the league or 15 games, you’re always need to keep proving yourself. When you’re playing games and playing good, if you say to yourself ‘I’ve got this figured out now . . .’ it’s gonna bite you. Whether you’re a No. 1 or a call-up, you have to give the same. (Martin) Brodeur said it pretty good a few years back — every day there’s something new to learn if you’re a goalie. And he’s got over 1,000 starts in the NHL and he’s still learning. So if he says that, I’d better listen.

“So, yeah, now I’m getting a little more ice time, maybe. But I feel the same.”

So by consensus, Ramo has a slight lead. But he’s certainly not far enough ahead to relax, to slow down. No, not for an instant.

“It’s been kind of funny,” muses goaltending guru Clint Malarchuk, “because one guy would get the ball and run with it for four or five games, they’d it hand off and the other guy would take his turn. And that’s not totally surprising because you look at guys with more experience like Toronto’s pair (James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier) and it’s the same thing. Back and forth. Back and forth.

“Neither of these guys, remember, has much NHL experience. Yeah, Ramo a bit . . . five years ago. So it’s kinda like having two rookies. Basically that’s what they are.”

For Berra, with absolutely no NHL playing time before this season, the learning curve has been greater.

“I have a great opportunity here, still. I try to get something out of it every day. It’s a big challenge over here. This is the best league in the world with the best players and I’ve only been here three or four months. I could also be in Abbotsford, but I’m here and I’m trying to give my best every day.

“I think my game is getting better. I knew there would be more shots, everything is tighter, more traffic. It’s been what I’d expected.”

Hartley knew Berra from his days coaching the Zurich Lions in Switzerland. Deposed GM Jay Feaster knew Ramo after bringing him into the Tampa Bay fold years ago. What remains to be seem is who will be ‘interim’ general manager Brian Burke’s go-to guy when September rolls around? Is he here now? Might he be a prize draft such as Providence star John Gillies, primed for stardom? Or maybe a veteran brought in the next few months through trade to plug the hole?

As Bob Hartley said, to move forward they need to make decisions.

“I like the fact that both of them are making progress,” says Malarchuk of his current pupils. “Right now, pucks aren’t hitting Berra like they were earlier. But that’s the ebb and flow of NHL goaltending. It happens. Consistency comes with experience. I think they’ve both improved.

“Their games have gotten quieter. By that I mean, not so overactive. They’re pecking away at that. I think the reason they were overactive early can be put down to smaller ice surface and more traffic. You’ve got all these players in front of you, the game’s moving so fast, and it’s like ‘Where’s the puck?! Where’s the puck?!’

“They’ve kind of taken that unease out of their games.”

When the Nashville Predators pay a call to the Scotiabank Saddledome in this second of a current five-game homestand, Karri Ramo will make his ninth start in the club’s last 12. Not that anything definitive should be read into that.

“The day we’re set with a No. 1,” promised Hartley on Thursday, “trust me, we will say it.”

That day, needless to add, has yet to arrive. Auditions remain ongoing. We do not, at the moment, have a clear-cut answer to this organization’s most perplexing 2013 off-season question.

“They’ve both had stretches,” notes Malarchuk, “where one guy says ‘OK, I’ve got the ball. Pucks are hitting me. It’s all good.’ That’s what we wanted to see at the beginning. What we want to see now is one guy carry the ball longer, gain more yardage.

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Johnson: Jury still out on who will succeed Kiprusoff as Calgary’s workhorse netminder

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